The care was ordinary. A hospital in Modesto, California, treated a 30-year-old man for shoulder and back pain after a car accident. He went home in less than three hours. The bill was extraordinary.

Ed Knight was taken to HCA’S Chippenham Hospital in Virginia after cutting his arm in a fall from a ladder. He was billed a $17,000 trauma team “activation” fee for what the hospital called a “mild” ...

Some hospitals regularly charge trauma activation fees, which can exceed $50,000, even for patients who are never admitted, Kaiser Health News reported July 16. Trauma activation fees represent the ...

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s average activation fees can be up to $50,000 per patient, according to Kaiser Health News. In its report, KHN used 2020 data on trauma-team activation charges, ...

Trauma activation fees are intended to help trauma centers cover the costs of providing lifesaving care at all times, but they have fallen under greater scrutiny because of a lack of regulation and ...

HCA charges patients an “activation fee” of up to $50,000 for trauma teams at centers located in half its 179 hospitals — and they often don’t need trauma care, an analysis of insurance claims data ...